


Put your spine in your back

by sandyk



Category: Superstore (TV)
Genre: F/M, au from gender reveal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-23
Updated: 2018-12-23
Packaged: 2019-09-25 15:23:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17123882
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sandyk/pseuds/sandyk
Summary: Competition is good, right?





	Put your spine in your back

**Author's Note:**

  * For [klutzy_girl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/klutzy_girl/gifts).



> Not mine, no profit garnered. Title from the National's cold girl fever. Thanks people!

"Cloud Nine pregnancy tests were recalled," Dina said.

"I know," Amy said. "I had one lying around, so I used that and one from Target. They were both negative."

"But you've been eating so much," Cheyenne said. 

"I'm dating someone who takes me out to dinner all the time," Amy said, frowning. "Thanks, Cheyenne."

"Maybe both tests were wrong," Dina said.

"I went to the doctor, he said I'm not pregnant. I got my period last week, right on time," Amy said. "Do you believe me now?"

"Sure," Dina said, sighing. "I was really hoping for a distraction." 

So that day happened. They made a video, the CEO came. They had something planned but Jeff ruined it. Jonah and Amy joked around a little in the photo bang room, but they both left. Amy had a date.

She had a number of great dates with Alex. Lots of them. She had sex with him and it was actually really great. Like, brag to Dina that great. Naturally that made Dina ask for video. Or naked pictures. Neither of which Amy would ever provide.

Dina was the one to tell her Kelly and Jonah had broken up. Dina had video of that, too, since it had mostly happened in the parking lot. Before that video, Amy had to watch a few seconds of Dina dancing naked with a very burly guy. Amy prayed she never had a chance to recognize that guy by the awful tattoo on his butt. That image was going to be burned in her brain forever. 

"So I'm checking and there were five empty boxes. Literally, someone went through all the boxes of bandaids, opened them, took the bandaids and then closed them back. What if I'd bought one without checking?" Amy gestured with her fork.

"But you know people do that so you always check," Alex said. 

"I know, but it's just, ugh, people," Amy said.

Alex smiled and they talked more and went and had great sex and then they broke up. Alex did it. He dumped her. She said, a little tearfully, "Is it because of the bandaids story?"

"No," Alex said. "Not at all. I'll remember that one forever. Amy, I'm getting a promotion and there's all these things and I like you, I do, you're great, but I think I want something more."

She looked at his helpless hands and sighed. "Got it."

"I didn't actually get it at all," Amy said the next day. "I just knew there was nothing to say to convince him."

"Why would you think that? I've talked guys out of breaking up with me. It's not hard. Say yes to anal," Dina said. They were in the breakroom. Amy could see Jonah wince over Dina's shoulder.

Cheyenne and Mateo both nodded. Mateo said, "Dina's not wrong."

"I don't think anal would convince him not to dump me," Amy said. 

"So you didn't try it," Cheyenne said. 

Amy rolled her eyes and went back to her salad. She was eating a lot of salad after Cheyenne said she was so fat. It was stupid. Amy liked her body. Alex had liked her body. More importantly, Amy liked her body. That's what she needed to be thinking about. What she liked. 

Jonah sat down next to her and said, "Sorry about the break up. That sucks."

"I know, right?" Amy pushed away her stupid salad and went to the snack machine to get some damn Doritos. They were delicious. "Sorry about yours, too."

"I got my own place, so, um, yeah. Mostly it sucked," Jonah said. 

"Maybe you should have said you'd do anal," Amy said because her mouth just sometimes declared war on her. 

Jonah laughed nervously. "Um. That really wasn't the problem. Not that I wasn't up for anal, but Kelly doesn't, you know --"

"You can buy a strap on," Amy said, her mouth still running ahead of her. 

Jonah laughed for real at that one. "She would never do that."

"I've never done that," Amy said. "My sex life has been pretty vanilla."

Jonah nodded. He was looking around the room and Amy had a sudden rush of shame. "Whatever, gotta go," she said. 

Amy went home alone and had nothing to do. Emma had begged to go to some camp and somehow Amy and Adam had found the money. Emma spoke to one of them every day but it wasn't the same as having her home. Without Alex, Amy was back to feeling like her life was nothing much. Which was so untrue. Absolutely untrue. 

Alex got a promotion. Amy couldn't even get a raise. She went out for coffee just so she'd actually leave the house. She went to the place near her parents' old house, because it was a nice place and she loved the nail place next door. She never did her nails anymore. 

To her surprise, she knew the barista. It was Jonah. 

"When did you get a second job?" She might have barked that out instead of speaking normally. 

Jonah shrugged and blushed. He was fucking adorable. He said, "After Kelly and I, after she dumped me. She found out I've been lying to my parents for, um, the last few years. So I had to tell my parents the truth and now that they know I'm not in medical school, they're threatening to stop paying some of my student loans."

"That's a lot of information," Amy said. She looked behind her and realized there was a little bit of a line. "Lavender latte, medium," she said. 

She went and stood by the pick up end of the counter. Apparently Jonah took the orders and the other guy working made the drinks. Amy took her latte, found a seat and stared at Jonah while he worked. He was better at this job than Cloud 9. 

Maybe she should get a second job. Cheyenne did it. Amy didn't think she had the time. She worked more than Cheyenne or Jonah. 

Jonah sat down at her table. "You're staring at me."

"You're better at this job than Cloud 9," Amy said. "So, wait, you've been lying to your parents?"

Jonah nodded. "I didn't tell them about Cloud 9. And they thought I had a Jewish girlfriend. Who I got engaged to. I think that was when I was seeing Naomi. I'm awful."

"Sure, you're awful. And ashamed of working at Cloud 9," Amy said. "But why did Kelly break up with you for that?"

"She said it made her realize how little I let her know me or anyone know me and I didn't know myself," Jonah said. "She's totally wrong."

"Really? That all sounds spot on," Amy said. "I would have broken up with you because you were ashamed of Cloud 9."

"You're really dwelling on that," Jonah said. "I was being sarcastic about Kelly being wrong. She's right. But I did tell my parents the whole truth."

"And they're going to stop paying your student loans," Amy said.

Jonah nodded. "I really hope not. I got the second job because I didn't really have much to do and to pay more of my loans. Mostly the second one."

"But they haven't stopped paying yet," Amy said.

"They do love me," Jonah said. "Also, it's been strongly suggested I get some therapy."

"I don't think our insurance covers that. Like, it's basically call this hotline, and if you say you're unwell from something that might be chronic, you're fired," Amy said. She knew better than to call that line.

"Dina got therapy," Jonah said.

"Manager insurance is way better than ours," Amy said. 

"They actually have some pretty good insurance here," Jonah said. "They're really nice."

"It's not hard to be nicer than Cloud 9," Amy said.

"Why do you stay then?"

Amy shrugged. "Cause I hate change and I'm self destructive?"

Jonah looked down with a small smile. He said, "You could just want to stick with what you know, a place where you're appreciated. Glenn is a pretty nice boss. You know what to expect. You're good at your job."

"I don't think that's it," Amy said. She did appreciate him trying. She sighed. "I'm not going to leave Cloud 9."

"Maybe you could go back to college, taking classes. Then someday there's something more," Jonah said.

"With all my extra money," Amy said. She sipped her drink. "Maybe you're right."

"I'm totally right," Jonah said. "I might need you to repeat that."

"I will not," Amy said.

"If you sign up for one class, I'll sign up, too," Jonah said. "Let's see who gets the best grade."

Amy glared at him. "This is so transparent. How are you even paying for this?"

"Ask my parents," Jonah said. "How are you going to?"

"I can do it," Amy said. "One class."

She took a week to pick it out. She was staying far away from any of Jonah's strengths, so no business school prerequisites, no literature, no film. What she had over Jonah besides her intelligence was her ability to stick to it. To get the job done. A foreign language. That required practice, which Amy would do and Jonah would not get done. 

She decided against Spanish because it gave her an unfair advantage, no French because Jonah loved French films, no German because she knew he'd been to see some German films. 

"The winner is Chinese," she said. "You and me, taking Chinese. I'm going to do better than you."

She and Jonah sat together in class and paired up for the practices. She might have bitten more than she could chew with the Chinese. There were characters for each word and four tones to go with the words. 

And stupid Jonah was really quick with languages. She kept waiting for him to get distracted. 

"I'm going to have to distract him," she said to Dina. 

"I could help," Dina said. She shifted in discomfort. "This pregnancy is the pits. Even with all the sex I'm having, it's the pits. And my pits are extra sweaty all the time."

"Thanks for sharing," Amy said. "Maybe I could get him a girlfriend."

"He doesn't want a girlfriend, he wants you," Dina said. "Have sex with him until he passes out. While he's out cold, you study."

"That's not a great plan," Amy said.

"It's a doable plan, though," Dina said. "Think about it."

She knocked on Jonah's door at his apartment because she knew he was home. Also because she was really trying to make sure she did this. She really loved winning, and she was incredibly attracted to Jonah so she could absolutely do this. 

He answered the door with a smile. She looked over his shoulder. "Are you watching Chinese movies? Come on." She crossed her arms. 

"I'm allowed," he said. He even laughed. She stepped in and took off her puffy coat with a snort instead of her planned flourish. 

He stopped laughing. Amy smiled nervously and tried to look flirtatious. She had spent more money than she wanted on the Rihanna lingerie. Cheyenne was supposed to find her a coupon code but she hadn't. She got a bralette set - at least she could wear them again without feeling too ridiculous. She ramped up her smile and tried not to hide her body. "Maybe you need a break from studying?"

He looked down and rubbed his forehead. "Well. I mean. Are you just trying to win? Because actually this would work. Absolutely work. I would just prefer. I'm saying I would prefer if we really wanted this. If you did. Also, I. I. You know?"

She was suddenly cold. She shivered a little and walked towards him. He immediately had his warm hands on her waist and then her ribs and they were also kissing and she held on to his neck. She took a deep breath and said, "Actually I am kinda totally into you. But I do want to win. So it was like it worked out great. If this was a good idea. Which it clearly wasn't. I don't know. We should have sex. Sex. Do it."

"I love doing it," Jonah said. He looked so earnestly into her, she didn't even laugh. She made a mental note in the part of her brain still working to mention it later to Dina. 

She had to pause when they got to the being naked part because she really wanted to make sure she took care of the new underwear. But then she forgot about it because she forgot about everything except having some damn good sex. Really really good. 

"This wasn't a good plan," Jonah said. "You weren't studying either." He had a sweet smile. 

"The actual plan as you fall asleep after sex, and I study then. Yes, it wasn't much of a plan. I just kind of liked the whole idea of seducing you," Amy said. 

Jonah shifted a little and then turned on the TV in his bedroom. He reached over her and grabbed the remote. Then he turned on Netflix and resumed the movie in progress. 

"I don't wanna study." Amy buried her head in the pillows. Jonah had a lot of pillows. She wasn't at all surprised. 

"This movie is really good," Jonah said. "I want to know what happens." 

She fell asleep before he started telling her all about it.


End file.
